A log jam has developed on the Mississippi River between Raspberry Island and south shore of the river, under the Wabasha Street bridge, affecting boat traffic at the St Paul Yacht Club on Tuesday, July 1, 2013. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

Workers use an barge-mounted excavator to clean up a logjam that has collected on the Mississippi River in St. Paul on Friday, July 5, 2013. After severe storms seared through Minnesota in late June, fast-moving flood-stage water rushed logs, branches and garbage to the western edge of the Raspberry Island Bridge, where it has collected. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

If it wasn’t plucking logs and debris from the Mississippi River in St. Paul, the excavator — planted squarely on a barge — was using its huge bucket to poke and prod the logjam near Raspberry Island on Friday morning.

The sight didn’t go unnoticed.

“I mean, it’s a big machine moving stuff; it’s just cool to watch,” said Tim Mahoney of St. Paul.

He wasn’t the only onlooker: Dozens of spectators snapped photos and watched the unusual logjam operation from nearby docks and from above on the Wabasha Street Bridge.

After severe storms tore through Minnesota in late June, fast-moving flood-stage water rushed logs, branches and garbage to the western edge of the Raspberry Island Bridge.

And there it sat, until the city and local stakeholders like the St. Paul Yacht Club and the Minnesota Boat Club figured out what to do.

A contractor dug into the unsightly mass Friday morning, an excavator spending more than an hour carefully picking through debris before using its enormous bucket to push the barge out of the jam so it could steam upriver.

Efforts likely will continue through the weekend until large pieces of debris are removed, allowing smaller pieces to break free.

“I think this was the first time I said ‘logjam’ to actually mean a bunch of logs all caught up,” said Maurice Thompson of St. Paul. “It’s not something you see every day.”

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